Worth Dying For
by TheGoodLeftUndone
Summary: Samarah and Aubrey have one thing in common... they both have a broken past that they are just now beginning to learn. Aubrey finds herself connected to Harry potter, and he begins to treat her like a little sister, then, as she grows a friendship with th


Chapter One: By Moonlight Alone

oOoOo

Harry and the four youngest Weasleys were scouting out an owl for Ginny in the Magical Menagerie, seeing as Ginny had been made a prefect like her older brother Ron, her mother had given her the money to pick out her own pet. Ginny walked right in without a thought and her eyes darted around the room, finally she made her way over to a bunch of cages filled with owls of many different colors and kinds.

"Oh gosh..." Ginny said in awe, surveying the contents of each cage carefully then onto the next. The four boys followed, the noise affecting them so much more obviously than their rambunctious sister, or in Harry's case, friend.

"Sure you want a Owl." Ron asked her, scowling at the cage Ginny had stuck her fingers into, only to pull them out quickly and pull them close to herself as the owl nipped at her maliciously. Ginny looked over at him as he neared her side.

"Well, I mean, I could get a rat, but the whole scabbers thing..." She trailed off and looked longingly around the shop as Ron nodded in understanding. "And an owl would be quite use..." her words dropped off quickly and she darted across the room, quickly kneeling beside a cage containing a black cat.

"We'll be off then, tell mum we've gone back to the shop." Fred said, leading George out of the door before Harry, Ron or Ginny could even get a word in.

"Bye." They could hear the twin's identical voices call out as the bell rang, marking their exit. Ginny was encrypted by the cat and didn't move a single muscle. Ron glanced in Harry's direction; he didn't really want his sister to get a cat either. Harry shrugged and edged closer to the cage, alongside Ron. They both leaned over, placing their hands sturdily upon their knees for support.

"Sure you want this one?" Ron asked, waiting for Ginny's answer, but hoping it would be a 'no'. Ginny sighed and Ron looked at her, seeing a bright smile (well, half of one) on her face. "Ginny?" he questioned when she didn't answer him. Ginny snapped out of some sort of trance, turning to Ron with a dazed look.

"Yeah." She said in an airy voice, still smiling. Ron frowned, but stood up straight, walking over to the counter where a middle-aged witch stood, occupied with a cage of rats sitting upon the counter. Harry took the opportunity to look closer at the cat, its fur wasn't short, but not long and it lay sleeping upon the bottom of the cage, it's middle rising and falling gently as it breathed. "Kitty Kitty." Ginny said softly above the top of the cage, rubbing her fingers together at the side of the cage as if beckoning it towards her.

Harry saw the corners of the cat's eyes open slowly and it's head rise just as slow, it looked encryptingly at Ginny who gasped in surprise and then turned to look at Harry. A cat's eyes were normally green, an olive green, but this cat had eyes a light shade of blue, almost a purple color and his eyes widened as it stood and moved to the side of the cage before which he stood. He lowered himself and knelt before the cat, looking at it confusedly as it blinked, it's eyes were now a normal green, that of any cat, like Crookshank's were. He began to reach out towards the cat when Ron returned.

"How much?" Ginny questioned, looking desperately up at him, Harry's attention too had moved up to Ron and his hand to his side. Ron looked down at Ginny with quite a bit of remorse.

"More than we can afford..." He trailed on, sounding like he hated to hurt her feelings. Ginny made a disappointed face, looking back down to the cat's cage, it had turned it's own attention back to her and she pressed her fingers through the bars, it nuzzling the side of it's face against them as if curing an incurable itch and began to purr.

"I could give you the rest." Harry said without a thought, seeing her this desperate was like seeing his little sister the same way, he'd always thought of the Weasleys as family. Ginny shook her head without looking at him, the cat's eyes closed as it rubbed the back of it's ear against her fingertips.

"No, No Harry, I couldn't let you do that, plus, it's better if I have an owl anyways." Ginny stood to her feet and returned to the cages of owls back across the room, the witch finishing with the rats decided to help. Ron felt really bad that Ginny couldn't get the cat, but he looked down upon Harry, who had now reached his own fingers through the bars, but the cat didn't do the same to him as Ginny, the cat didn't even sniff his fingers (no pun intended).

"Kitty, Kitty." Harry tried as Ginny had, wanting the cat to come within reach, but it opened it's mouth, making him pull his fingers back, though all it did was let out a sweet meow. Ron chuckled.

"Why'd you stick your fingers through the bars if you are afraid it'll bite you?" Harry turned around and grinned the slightest bit at Ron, then standing slowly, all the while keeping his eyes fixated on the black cat.

"When you had scabbers, did you ever get the feeling that he was too smart for a rat just by looking in his eyes?" Harry asked, Ron frowned, looking at Harry in a very odd way.

"Have you gone nutty?" Ron asked simply, making Harry chuckle as well.

"No, I just- the cat, it just seems-"He trailed off. "Never mind." Ron shook his head and glanced to the counter to see Ginny paying for her selection without his help, though she very well should be able to.

"Harry, it's a cat." He said simply, a vicious growl came out of the very cage they'd once been looking into and both looked down to see the cat staring at them.

"Looks like the cat doesn't agree with you Ron..." Ginny said with a smirk, holding a covered cage in her small arms.

"Want me to take that?" Ron asked protectively.

"I'm not a child." Ginny answered. Ron looked to Harry and both looked at each other surprised before hearing the doorbell chime, then noticing Ginny was making her exit and quickly following. Just as they came to the door to exit on their own they heard a commotion outside, the owl in Ginny's cage making quite the noises. They quickly opened the door, making the bell chime a third time and coming to a quick halt to see Ginny's cage upon the ground and Ginny trying to pick it up into her arms.

"I'm...Sorry." A voice came from beside Ginny, a girl trying to help her with the cage and it's covering, thank go the owl hadn't gotten out.

"Your such a klutz." Came a voice slightly more contemptuous than the first and Ron looked behind the girl as Harry proceeded to help Ginny fix the cover of the cage now in her arms. Ron saw a girl in black clothing, with honey coloured hair about as tall as himself, and she looked up at him evilly. Ron shot his gaze back to the other girl, her hair was black, but her face resembled the others. Ron's attention flipped back on and he realized the first girl was continually apologizing and his sister was trying to assure her it was ok.

"You're sure?" the dark haired girl asked once more, Ginny nodded assuringly.

"I'm fine." The girl nodded at Ginny's reply and made her way passed Ron, looking downwards as if trying to shade her face from his view. Once she was out of sight he stepped to his companion's side.

"Who was that?" he questioned, not noticing the figure nearing them.

"Mara Ayers, a seventh year Ravenclaw, and her sister Aubrey, she's been living with her grandmother these last five years, attended Beauxbatons." Hermione said as she came to face them, smiling politely. "I see you've already gotten your owl?" she addressed Ginny, "May I see?" she questioned politely. "Ginny nodded and Hermione gently lifted the side of the cover.

"Awe..." she trailed on, looking in on the small bird that let out a small hoot with the newfound attention.

"Let us have a look." Ron said, edging to her side and pulling Harry with him. "We haven't seen it yet." They looked in upon the small bird, getting a bit agitated with the extra attention, fluttering its wings a bit.

"If you wanted one like this I could've given you Pig." Ron said hotly, annoyed with his sister's selection, a very small owl.

"I'd like to have my own thank you very much." Ginny shot back. "You don't have to like her." She added in quickly, defending her new pet and lifting up the side of the cloth closest to her and looking in on the little bird lovingly. It replied by giving another small hoot.

"I've never seen her before." Harry said to Hermione, but she wasn't paying attention, she was staring down Diagon Alley at someone headed their way. "Hermione!" He said a little louder, getting her attention finally.

"Huh, what?" Hermione said, turning back to look at Harry, but glancing back in the same direction a bit pink.

"I said, I've never seen that Slytherin girl before." Harry said, frowning at Hermione's behaviour and trying to get a glimpse of what was causing it.

"Yeah me neither." Ron said in a low voice, doing the same as Harry, his curiousness taking over any other thought in his head.

"She's been in your classes since our first year... how could you not?" She looked back to what had had her attention once before and a boy walked up to them, his hair blonde like Draco Malfoy's but it wasn't slicked back like that, it was short and spiked upon his head.

"Hello Hermione." He said, nodding to her with a bright beautiful smile, one that would catch the eye of any girl. Ginny's eyes became fixated on him and she grew a smile.

"Hello Deacon." Hermione said excitedly and he gave notice to the two boys by nodding and then smiled at Ginny.

"See you at school then?" he said, his smile dividing in half to produce a lopsided grin, then walked passed them and into the Magical Menagerie.

Who was that?" Ron asked frivolously, frowning at the actions of both girls as they stared after his back.

"Ravenclaw...Seventh..." Hermione said in her usual matter-of-fact tone, but more like she was floating on air than usual.

"Girls." He replied, turning to Harry with a raised brow, rolling his eyes and shaking his head at the same time.

"We should get back to mum..." Ginny proceeded in saying, getting their attention; they all agreed and made their way to find Mrs. Weasley.

In the Magical Menagerie it didn't take Deacon long to find what he was looking for, he entered and scanned his surroundings before heading straight for the cat that had gotten Harry's attention. He picked up the cage without effort, looking at its contents with a very annoyed look upon his face. He moved to the counter quickly and asked the price of the cat without question, hearing a price slightly higher than what had been given to Ron and proceeded to fork over the cash.

"Deacon..." He heard his name ring out in a familiar voice, one that had been hearing saying the same word many times these last six years. He turned to look at the girl approaching him.

"Mara." He said more than annoyed. "Now's not the time to chat, I have to be getting back home." she looked a bit disappointed but eyed up the cat that he'd just purchased.

"Don't you already have an owl?" she questioned him, frowning, she knew more about him than he knew she knew. He closed his eyes, he was in a hurry.

"It's for my sister." He said, letting his annoyed manor deplete itself. Again Mara frowned and looked upon him with inquiry.

"Sister? I didn't know you had a sister." Mara replied to him as the witch continued to ask him over Mara's voice whether he wanted the cage as well. He shook his head and she reached into the cage.

"I do, she's in Slytherin, I'd have thought you knew." He said in a hurry as the witch handed over the black cat and properly thanked him for his service before moving to help Aubrey.

"Really? Is she anything like you?" she questioned, outwardly flirting by putting her hand upon the cat, who hissed and batted at her in it's own reply, she pulled back her hand and held it defensively against her chest, glowering at the cat as Deacon reached to grab a hold of the cat's front paws.

"Look, I'd love to talk Mara, but I'm really in a hurry, find me on the express, Kay?" Mara, still staring avidly at the cat, nodded.

"I will." she replied and he smiled politely, moving towards the door quickly. Once outside the door he moved away from it before pausing and holding the cat up in front of him.

"Dad's not going to be very happy..." he trailed off in his words, glancing around to see if there was anyone listening worth concern. Harry, upon hearing Deacon's voice speak again, peered out of the doorway he happened to be standing in, which also happened to be next door to the Magical Menagerie. He noticed the cat in his hands as the same one from the shop.

'Why would he be talking to a cat?' Harry questioned himself in thought. Deacon shook his head with an unhappy look at the cat.

"The summer is almost over, couldn't you have waited to cause your mischief?" Harry found it odd how Deacon was speaking to the cat like it was just the opposite of that, like it could understand him like a human could. "Dad's been looking for you everywhere..." as the cat made a pleading mew he swept it back into his arms where it wasn't dangling in mid-air like a cat clinging to a tree branch.

'Could it be an Animagus?' Harry thought to himself as Deacon spoke to it, caring for it more than someone would with a runaway feline.

"Lucky thing you're going back to school, or dad would have you grounded, he wouldn't let you out for weeks." Deacon knelt down and placed the cat upon the cobblestones, to where it looked up at him, not flinching as it sat down upon the ground, its tail twitching behind it.

'Going to school?' Harry thought with a frown, then letting his brow relax. 'That would make sense, seeing as people take their pets to school all the time. But why would it be grounded, it's a cat?' Harry blinked and shook his head as if just in a bad dream, his summer hadn't been his best, but better than the last.

"C'mon Sam..." Deacon said, standing to his full height, but staring down upon the cat. "Let's get you home..." Harry felt like Deacon was speaking more to a sibling than a pet. 'Sam' he thought, placing the name in his memory and making a mental note to ask Hermione about it as quickly as possible as he watched Deacon head back down the street, the cat following quickly behind.

A small tap upon Harry's shoulder made him jump and he turned to see a wide-eyed, yet amused Ron standing behind him.

"Bit jumpy." Ron stated the obvious; Harry again glanced out towards Deacon and the cat and then back to Ron, scratching the back of his head gently.

"Umm...err, yeah I guess...' Harry replied, watching avidly as Hermione approached, he lifted his arm up, motioning to her. "Hermione? Does Deacon have any brothers or sisters?" he questioned before it slipped his mind, making both Hermione and Ron frown.

"What kind of a question is that?" she asked hastily, a bit disturbed by the manor in which he'd asked. Harry shrugged lightly, shaking his head just the slightest bit.

"Just that, a question." Her expression lightened and she looked up to the ceiling in thought.

"Not that I know of, I mean, he could have one that'd be starting this year or later... but from what I know he's an only child." Just then, Ginny too approached, the cage gone from her grasp, but in her mother's as Mrs. Weasley too approached. "I could ask him for you if you wanted." Hermione said a bit too excitedly, at least more than he or Ron had expected.

"C'mon then you four, we best be getting back to the Burrow." she was loaded down with packages and books and Ginny's owl, but Ginny too had a small load in her arms and looked ready to go back as well, so they headed back, following Mrs. Weasley.

oOoOo

Deacon apparated back into their house, his own bedroom to be exact. A small space with light green walls, a bit sickening really. He set the cat upon the floor and it immediately made a quick dash for his open yet untidy closet.

"Oh no you don't!" he said in a loud whisper, grasping it's tail firmly in his hand as it let out a sharp meow. He moved his hands to the cat's middle and lifted it onto the bed, staring down at it with a hint of amusement. "C'mon Sam, you can't just hide forever..." he trailed on with a friendly smile. The cat moved it's paw as if to dash again and he lunged forward towards it, making it cease it's movement and he his own. "Change back so we can let dad know you're safe." He said firmly, the cat closed it's eyes and a few seconds passed before it evolved back into it's original form, that of a girl with dark auburn hair and bright eyes. Her eyes were a light shade of blue, almost that of the sky, through in the right light they looked almost purple.

"You HAD to grab my tail didn't you?" she asked as she pushed her legs forward underneath her so they hung over the side of his bed and her feet swept the floor. He smiled and stifled a laugh.

"You left me with no choice." He said calmly, annoying her in a way that she preferred to keep to herself. "Why don't you just tell dad about this so you don't have to hide it from him?" at that Samarah jumped up and stood before him unhappily.

"Deacon, your father works for the ministry... I'm not registered and that would mean big trouble." Deacon looked a bit shut down, but it didn't last long.

"C'mon." he said, moving behind her and pushing at her shoulders, moving her towards the door, himself right behind. "Dad's been worried sick, let's just let him know your safe ok?" Samarah made her little sounds of disapproval, but followed anyways.

Deacon called out for his dad as he searched the house, but there was no answer. He tried again, but still none. He led Samarah into the kitchen, where he found a small piece of parchment upon the table and lifted it into his view.

"Deacon..." he read aloud from the paper in his hands, the words scratched out as if in a hurry. "That would be me..." he teased with a smile his little sister's way, Samarah shot him an annoyed and sarcastic look. "Ooh." He said under his breath, mocking his fright from her evil glare. "Was called into the ministry, important matters I must deal with before the days end with an estate in London." Deacon gave his disapproval with a slight sarcastic chuckle. "If Samarah comes home, DO NOT LET HER LEAVE!" he read the last few words aloud as they were written in capitals upon the parchment, then peeking over the edge of the paper at Samarah with a suspicious grin. She opened the fridge and pulled out a bottle of milk and poured herself a glass, all the while smiling at his antics.

"Where am I supposed to go after being cooped up in that cage for the last two days, almost two." She corrected herself, tipping the glass to her lips and disrespectfully leaving the bottle upon the counter without a thought as she moved across the room to stand near Deacon, who laughed deeply.

"Be back late, important matters I must also discuss with her before she heads back to school." Deacon frowned in confusion as he finished reading the note and lowered the paper, looking at her, his confusion growing. "What might that be about?" he questioned, his mind buzzing with the possibilities. Samarah shrugged and glanced behind her as she finished off her glass of milk, traveling back to put the bottle back in the fridge and her glass in the sink.

"You know what it's about, my last three days, my adventure, Deacon I'm not stupid." She closed the fridge door and looked at him helplessly.

Deacon could never understand how Samarah had come to be in Slytherin, their mother was far from Slytherin Material and Samarah herself was definitely not the type. Samarah had manners and did her homework, but she also had this moody thing, she would be a bit snappish sometimes, but everyone was like that. Samarah was smarter then she was ambitious, but as he thought about it, she was the type to not quit anything she was told or asked, assigned or wanted to do. A devious look crossed her face and she advanced towards him again.

"Who was that girl...? The one in the shop, Maya?" a light flickered in his head.

"You know exactly who she is...Mara's a Slytherin like you..." Samarah cocked her head to the side.

"I know that, but why on earth would you want to meet her on the Express?" he gave a slight smile, raising a brow and shaking his head.

"Just being polite." He stated simply. Sam closed her eyes and stuck her nose in the air, bending he knees and lifting her hands to place them over her heart.

"Really deacon, is she anything like you?" Samarah mocked, fluttering her eyelashes and letting her mouth hang open slightly, overdoing the exact subject she was trying to emphasize. Deacon poked her in the belly to make her stop. Sam smiled at him, shaking her head. "I don't like her." She added simply, getting protective. Deacon shook his head and traveled over to the fridge himself, holding his stomach, unaware that that was Samarah's clue to his hunger.

"Mara's had a crush on me since the first year." He stated, as Samarah stared down at the note he'd laid upon the table, seeing the chicken scratch that was her stepfather's trademark.

"Of course she has..."Samarah teased, though she knew it was true. "How was it that you knew where to find me?" She asked him, making him stand up inside the door of the fridge and shrug.

"I looked everywhere, same as Dad, he'd been to Diagon alley thinking you'd been fiddling with the flu powder to go and admire the Quiddich stuff... why do you do that anyways? You don't play." Samarah shrugged, looking away from him embarrassedly. "Anyways, he'd checked the Magical Menagerie and I had a though to ask if they'd had any knew arrivals..." he trailed on, leaving out the obvious and Samarah nodded in understanding.

"Thanks." she muttered and heard a muffled sound that sounded oddly like 'no problem'. Hiding her giggles she made for the doorway. "I'll be in dad's office, reading." She saw his hand wave vaguely over the top of the fridge door and shook her head, making for the small room off of the living room.

Inside the desk was piled with papers reading this and that, a few of the many drawers and files hanging open with the edges of paper sticking out. Samara walked carefully across to the opposite side of the wall, pulling the shutter doors closed behind her. The six-foot bookshelf was crowded with books of every sort, mostly books their dad had bought for the sake of Samarah, who liked to be by herself, often in the dark, with a book and a flashlight.

She pulled off the one she'd left tilted down on its spine, a muggle book written by Charles Dickens. She got enough of reading Wizarding books at Hogwarts in her alone time there, even though she preferred them to this kind of sappy, crap muggles wrote about, but she had found a few she did like.

Samarah moved into he corner and took a seat in her father's desk chair, pulling her feet up in the chair as well and opened the book to the page she'd folded the corner of it over as a reminder.

oOoOo

At the burrow during dinner everyone was ecstatic about the return to Hogwarts, though Mrs. Weasley seemed a bit ruffled and Mr. Weasley was still at the ministry.

Mostly the talk between the group at the table (Ginny, Harry, Ron...) was about Quiddich; Harry desperately hoped that his ban from last year wouldn't still be in effect with Dumbledore now back.

"I'm sure Professor Dumbledore will let you re-join the team, I mean, it WAS Malfoy's fault." Ginny said, trying to reassure Harry's nerves, Quiddich was the one thing that Harry had left besides his friends, if he did have it...

A thought occurred to Harry a she began to think about the things he had, he missed Sirius severely as well, but it was no use. Harry wondered about Sirius's house, would it be given to him? Harry? Because of their relationship, they were like family these past two years; Sirius had been his father figure.

"Mrs. Weasley?" he questioned as she re-entered the room from the kitchen, her usual, seeing as she was busy with things all the time.

"Yes, Dear?" she asked him, looking down at him concerned, like she'd been doing quite a lot lately, though it was better than having her asking him whether he was ok or not.

"What's going to happen to Sirius's house?" he questioned, making everyone's words cease at the very mention, he looked around at his peers and then back to her expectantly.

"Well." She hesitated, as if wondering whether it was right to say it or not. "The place has been given to a...well, a relative." Harry frowned with her words, but as they struck him, his mind blanked and he was beat to his next question.

"You mean Sirius had family?" Ron asked in a tone that matched the confused look befuddling his face. "But I thought..." he was cut off.

"I know what you thought dear, but they keep records of births at the ministry and... well Sirius was the father of a young one..." her voice was shaky, as if she was lying, but no-one dared to accuse her.

Harry began to think about it, if Sirius had been a father it would have had to have been in these last two...nearly three years since he escaped from Azkaban. Who would conceive a child with a man thought to be a deadly criminal, and... Who would hand over an estate to a child within the range of three years old?

Harry furrowed his brow in thought, Sirius's son or daughter would have to have been born before he went to Azkaban, and did he know he had a child?

'How young? Are we talking like lately?" Fred asked, his face screwed up in thought like Harry's and Harry noticed how every face read the same.

"Oh, no, no, no dear, this child is somewhere around your age, a young girl." Mrs. Weasley began to look like she thought she'd said too much, but Fred and George shared a look that was obvious of what was on their minds.

Harry couldn't believe that Sirius had a child, but it was just another clue to his innocence, though Harry hadn't had a doubt since he was given the explanation by Sirius and Lupin themselves and he'd seen Peter Pettigrew with his own eyes.

Samarah stretched and yawned as she came to the end of the book; definitely not one she would recommend to the Wizarding word, though everyone had their different opinions. She let her feet fall to the floor and looked at her watch, it was passed Midnight and her step dad still wasn't back yet (referred to as 'dad' ok?) she scanned her surroundings in the dim moonlight shining through the window, mingled with the light of the candle she'd lit over an hour ago.

The room was quite warm and the air about it needed refreshing so Samarah stood to her feet and leaned over the desk to open the window, accidentally knocking the candle over upon his papers. Luckily with the new air in the room, the wick went out and all that happened was a small bit of hot wax fell upon the top sheets.

Samarah lifted them up into the moonlight, not far seeing as it was shining down upon her and her corner quite well. Picking the wax off and trying to brush it off with her fingers, her eyes stumbled upon the papers lying beneath the ones in her hand.

Each of the papers had a ministry crest on them and upon one of them read her first and middle name in bold capital letters. Samarah dropped the other papers off to the side of the desk and picked up the one bearing her name.

'Official document of Maternal and Paternal records from the archives of the Ministry of Magic.' The parchment read in strong italics at the top, right beside the crest for the ministry, Samarah stared down upon it with interest.

Nearer to the bottom there were two names both also in bold capital letters, the first was her mother's name, beside a word that labelled that name as her mother, for obvious reasons. The one beneath it, labelled as her father, read three words she would never have even thought of...

Tom Marvolo Riddle...


End file.
